Almost 25 years ago I participated in a Vision Quest which entailed three days of living alone on the land in the desert while abstaining from all solid food. Drinking water was of course permitted. This was an immensely challenging time. Yet one of its most remarkable outcomes was the extreme mental clarity I experienced—a clarity unmatched before or since. Would I call the experience an excursion? Not according to the definition above.  Daily contemplative practice can be understood as its own form of Vision Quest. We sit in silence; we refrain from conversation and other forms of mental stimulation; we breathe; we wait, not expecting anything specific. Through this process, we embark on a journey to our internal depths, where what first appears as emptiness gradually transforms into presence. In that space, we encounter an ever-present Presence, which brings clarity to the depths of our inner and outer realities. Might we call this an excursion of sorts? Perhaps.  As we continue our daily contemplative practice, alone or with others, may the ever-present Presence which sheds light on all reality transform all distortions into a clarity that reveals war can never be an excursion. It simply does not align with the definition. Keep sitting.  Blessings, Margaret and Nancy | 
